The Latest: Halep says Slam losses helped her beat Williams

United States’ Serena Williams returns to Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova in a Women’s semifinal singles match on day ten of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Thursday, July 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — The Latest at Wimbledon (all times local):

9:15 p.m.

Simona Halep figures her past problems in Grand Slam finals allowed her to come through against Serena Williams at Wimbledon.

Halep lost the first three times she appeared in a major final, twice at the French Open and once at the Australian Open.

But now she has won two in a row — last year at Roland Garros, and Saturday at the All England Club, where she made only three unforced errors while beating Williams 6-2, 6-2 in under an hour.

Halep says her losses “helped me for sure to be different” on this occasion.

While nerves can affect a player, Halep adds, she learned to think of it as “a normal match.”

That approach sure worked on this day.

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9 p.m.

Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah became the first Colombians to win a Grand Slam men’s doubles title, beating France’s Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-3 in a Wimbledon final that lasted just under 5 hours and concluded under the Centre Court roof.

The retractable cover was closed after the fourth set, which finished at about 8 p.m. after the teams had been playing for more than 4 hours.

The match went on so long that the women’s doubles final that was supposed to follow in the tournament’s main stadium was postponed until Sunday.

Mahut was visited by a doctor after getting hit in the face by a ball in the early going. He also went down in the fifth set after taking a ball to the body.

Mahut is no stranger to extended matches: He played in the longest match in tennis history — an 11-hour, 5-minute loss to John Isner in Wimbledon’s first round of singles in 2010 that stretched over three days and finished 70-68 in the fifth set.

Wimbledon introduced deciding-set tiebreakers this year, using them at 12-all.

Mahut and Roger-Vasselin were trying to win their first Grand Slam title together. Mahut has won four major doubles trophies with Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who played instead with Andy Murray at Wimbledon.

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8:15 p.m.

The Wimbledon women’s doubles final has been postponed because the men’s doubles final has stretched to a fifth set.

The women’s match pitting Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova against Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan will be played Sunday instead.

That was scheduled to follow the men’s doubles final on Centre Court. But that match — Juan-Sebastian Caval and Robert Farah against Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin — was already past the 4-hour mark when it headed to a fifth set after four tiebreakers.

Darkness was approaching, so the retractable roof at Centre Court was closed, further delaying things.

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4 p.m.

Daria Snigur of Ukraine won the junior girls’ title at Wimbledon, beating Alexa Noel of the United States 6-4, 6-4.

The match was played on No. 1 Court, the second biggest stadium at the All England Club.

The two also played each other on grass last week in the final of a tournament in nearby Roehampton, and Snigur won that one as well, 6-1, 6-2.

The Wimbledon win is Snigur’s first major title.

In the women’s wheelchair singles final, Aniek Van Koot won her third major title by beating Diede De Groot 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Both players are from the Netherlands.

Van Koot won her previous two Grand Slam titles in 2013, first at the Australian Open and then at the U.S. Open.

Also, Joachim Gerard of Belgium and Stefan Olsson of Sweden won the men’s wheelchair doubles title by beating Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid of Britain 6-4, 6-2.

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3:05 p.m.

Simona Halep won her first Wimbledon title and kept Serena Williams from winning her eighth.

Halep beat Williams 6-2, 6-2 on Centre Court for her second major title.

Williams was trying to win her record-equaling 24th Grand Slam singles title, but she failed in a final for the third time. Williams lost to Angelique Kerber in last year’s Wimbledon final and lost to Naomi Osaka in the championship match at the U.S. Open.

Williams still holds the record for most major singles titles in the professional era with 23, one more than Steffi Graf. But Margaret Court, who won 13 of her Grand Slam singles titles in the amateur era, has 24 overall.

Halep, who won last year’s French Open title, had only three unforced errors to Williams’ 25 in the final.

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2:40 p.m.

Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, were in the Royal Box for the women’s final at Wimbledon.

The royals were joined by Kate’s sister, Pippa.

Meghan is friends with Serena Williams, who was facing Simona Halep in the final on Centre Court.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was also in the Royal Box.

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2:35 p.m.

Simona Halep won the first set 6-2 against Serena Williams in the women’s Wimbledon final.

Halep dominated the seven-time Wimbledon champion from the start, breaking Williams in her first two service games and taking a 4-0 lead. At that stage, Halep had hit six winners and zero unforced errors. Williams had zero winners and nine unforced errors.

Williams’ only break point of the set came at 4-1, but she hit a forehand wide.

Halep is looking for her first Wimbledon title and second Grand Slam trophy overall. Williams has won 23 major tournaments.

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1 p.m.

Top-seeded Dylan Alcott of Australia won the first quad wheelchair singles title at Wimbledon, a day after winning the doubles title.

Alcott beat doubles partner Andy Lapthorne of Britain 6-0, 6-2 in the first official singles final for the event at the All England Club.

Alcott and Lapthorne won the doubles title on Friday, beating Koji Sugeno of Japan and David Wagner of the United States 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Wheelchair tennis made its debut at Wimbledon in 2016.

Alcott became a paraplegic after a tumor was removed from his spine soon after birth, according to the Wimbledon website.

Williams is trying to equal the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won in tennis history. Margaret Court holds that record with 24, but 13 of her trophies came during the amateur era, while all of Williams’ have come after professionals were admitted to major tournaments in 1968.

At Wimbledon, Williams is a seven-time champion who will be playing in her 11th final. Simona Halep, a former No. 1 who won the French Open last year, will be in her first final at the All England Club.